rickair7777

Ethnic diversity, yes. There are people who don't know it's an option, or have no idea how to go about it. Also you need some emphasis on education as kid... don't necessarily need to be a great scholar, but you can't be a JD either.

Gender diversity? It's a choice for them... they come from the same backgrounds as male pilots and have the same opportunities (essentially zero gender discrimination in 121 today).

The issue is generally family/kids. Either they're afraid to commit to the lifestyle in the first place, or drop out once they have kids. With one exception, all of my long-time female pilot friends either dropped out or stagnated as regional FO's once they had kids.

The ones who wan it are welcome here, but we don't need to jam square pegs in round holes.

Some of the ideas I'm lately are pure BS... airlines should "accommodate" women with better schedules. Well guess what, I paid my dues and spent time away from MY kids... so now that I have seniority, why should I be expected to suck up MORE bad schedules so someone of a particular gender can stay home with HER kids? Like I said, utter BS. If you want in, you play by the same rules as everyone else. No double standards.

THEKERNALKLINK

My daughter flew until right before she wouldn't be able to pull the yoke back far enough to rotate with both of my grandchildren. She had a lot less time than any FO I can ever recall flying with, but more than half of it was in a BBJ, up and down the West Coast, up to Alaska, and over to China, so the depth of her experience was far deeper than most. Ya know, and she had ME coaching her, which didn' hurt believe it or not.

She also had her grandfather and great grandfather. She is every bit as good of a pilot as I am.

I cried like a baby twice in my life. When my own kid proved to be chip off the old block, and when Louis Freeman retired. The Chief Pilot who walked me through (literally) my fathers illness. The 1st black pilot at WN.